Tuesday 30 December 2014

Review: Skinfood Rice Mask Wash Off

Skinfood Rice Mask Wash Off


Skinfood basically means food for the skin, what a great concept!!
On the skinfood webite it says it uses 'food' which is good for the skin and delivers nutrition to the skin instantly.

This rice mask is one of the popular products in Skinfood so I bought it to try it out!!
Hope you like my review, I've been using this for a year now and so I can give more details on the benefits that this gives over a long period of time.





Here is a swatch of it on my arm!

Decription: A wash-off mask that transforms skin into a pure and soft texture and contains rice bran water. The mask is white in colour with grainy bits in it, like tiny bits of rice, this must be for exfoliating.




How to use: After cleansing, gently massage with sample amount over dry face, avoiding eyes and mouth area. Concentrate around the nose area and repeat it using grains. Rinse with lukewarm water after 10 to 15 minutes of massage.

Ingredients:




Cost: This rice mask cost around 45 HK dollars which is around £3.45, I bought this in Colourmix. You can order this online at Sasa or Koreadepart.
Koreadepart is famous for selling Skinfood products and other Korean cometics and skincare, so you can check out their website!!


My thoughts: I must say that this mask gives instant results, my skin feels hydrated instantly. The white creamy texture of the product feels really cooling when I put it on, the product itself has a wet and oily texture, this competely washes off leaving your skin feeling plump and smooth. It feels as though you are really putting something very good for you on your skin. The grains in it can also exfoliate your skin too giving more benefits. This has been great in the winter times when I need a hydrating boost. Having used this product for around a year, I would say this product is only good for instant results, I have to say it does not do much about hydration over a long period of time of using this.


Pros:
  • Very hydrating
  • Instant results
  • Gentle
  • Smells nice
  • Simple packaging
  • Cheap

Cons:
  • Does not benefit the skin in hydration after using it for a long time, just gives instant results once used. 

Purchase?: I would repurchase this again purely because for the instant results.
   

Saturday 27 December 2014

Asia Adventures: Day Four- The history of South Korea

The History of South Korea!

We woke up very early in the morning ready to start off the day with Korean congee at a place called Bonjuk in Myeongdong.


The congee porridge was not like the typical Hong Kong congee.  Rather than the rice being cooked and fully integrated, the rice was still in its original grain form and also the soup itself was very glutinous. To be honest, I personally like the Hong Kong congee more.

The Korean porridge came with side dishes of spicy turnip cubes and marinated shredded beef and of course kimchi. You can never have a meal without the kimchi!
The porridge itself also had meat and vegetables in it. One whole bowl including the side dishes cost around 8000 won which I would say is a reasonable for such a huge portion.
The waiter was very polite and I was very pleased with the service I received despite the cultural and language barrier.

After having eaten a feast, we were ready to take on the Gyeongbokgung Palace; It was great timing too because when we arrived the Korea soldier performance was just about to start. They were dressed in traditional Korean robes just like how Koreans would have been worn in the past, there was a lot of serious marching. I found it so hilarious because I noticed one guy was not in rhythm, everyone was marching and he was marching/skipping acros the sand..

We took some pictures by one of the trees in the Gyeongbokgung Palace.

  • Children (ages 7-18): 1,500 won

  • Adults (ages 19-64): 3,000 won



After the performance,  we headed towards the waiting area for the English guided tour.  I was very impressed with the tour, the tour guide dressed up in a traditional hanok dress too and was holding a cute little umbrella.

Later on we stopped off at Samcheong-dong at the famous cafe street where literally the whole street was full of unique quirky places to sit, the one we went to was called Korean Healthy Dessert Cafe.


The desserts were amazing!, that honey bread was so delicious 
This is another tourist attraction- Bukchon  Hanok Village



It was getting a bit dark and we got a bit lost but gladly we saw tourists helpers dressed in red. Thank God we found them otherwise I think we wouldn't have gotten back to Myeongdong. 

We noticed in the underground Myeongdong station, there were shops that were still open at around 10-11, we decided the day has not ended yet and so we strolled around for a bit only to buy tons of socks and I bought a shirt for 26000 won, which is on the pricier side for Korea but I thought I would just get it because the shirt was such good quality!



As we walked out of the station,  my sister saw the McDonald's advertisement of the bulgogi burger,  we all wanted to try it, I have to say it was the best burger that I have tasted from a fast food chain.
Next up is shopping in Hongdae!!


Keep updated and I wish you lovelies a Happy New Year :)

Tuesday 23 December 2014

Asia Adventures: Day Three- Hong Kong to South Korea


Hong Kong to South Korea!

We arrived in Incheon Airport at 7:45am, our airline was called Air India. I was pretty impressed with the service with this airline. Food service was very quick and the journey took about five hours from Hong Kong.
Once we landed, everything was so efficient.  Getting off the plane was quick, we retrieved our luggage five minutes later and the train to the main airport terminal arrived very quickly. I hear the culture there is to do everything quickly, (baly baly) as they would say. I guess maybe that is why everything was quick. I wish it was like that in London...


The Incheon Airport is meant to be the one of the biggest and best areas to shop compared to other airports. Unfortunately , I did not get a chance to have a stroll round the shops.  I could see the makeup and comestics shops from the exits. My eyes lit up , hahaa!
In the terminal, there are many different exits out of the airport. We went out of exit 12A to catch the 6015 bus to Myeongdong, one of the last stops on the bus line. The journey there took around an hour....





Oh yes, I just remembered, there is a system here where they give you two stickers, one to put on the luggage and one for you to keep. I think the system is actually very good and I've never come across it before.
On our way there, we had a peep in the magazine in the front seat pocket. Most of the advertisement was about plastic surgery and I also show the famous Stylenanda models too!
 It wasn't long until we arrived at our hotel...
Our hotel was actually very near the Myeongdong bus station, I thought it would take a long time to find our hotel, which by the way it was called Pacific Hotel.

Here are some pictures of the hotel room:


One story to add...

While we were on the airbus and got off the last stop, my older sister left her phone behind and before she could turn back, the bus had already wheeled off.
The bus service workers were very helpful but found it very difficult to speak English and to communicate with us. So one of the workers used a bit of paper to explain what he thought was happening. He drew the bus layout and we thought he was drawing a phone with the buttons. It was so funny but in the end we figured it out and told him where we were sitting. He then asked us what colour it was and so we just pointed at my top which was blue, that was easy enough to explain!

They managed to find the phone on that bus and told us to wait outside Myeongdong station at 6:20pm to collect the phone.
Now that incident was sorted, we headed off back to the hotel to have a nap and did not realised the time when we woke up, it was 6:10pm and we were all rushing to get ready to head out. My sister was so worried she would miss the collection time and so she headed out before us. We were all scared she may be lost or something, noone speaks English around South Korea which makes it even more difficult. The rest of us waited in the main lobby for her.
It was not long until she came back so that was all good.
After that dreadful incident, we went out to eat in the streets of Myeongdong, it was such a clean and tidy place. There were cute little restaurants with patches of grass for decoration with cute sitting areas just like in Korean dramas.
The restaurant we went to was called Wangbijib to try out Korean BBQ for the first time!!!
There were so many selections of meats to choose from, we were drolling at the sight of it and we could smell the meat being cooked around us..




We ordered a Korean BBQ set which came with two choices of meat, we chose the ribs and the standard cut of beef. First of all, we were given side dishes such as kimchi, radish and garlic along with other cold side dishes that came with the package...
Then suddenly the waiter came over to us with two massive slabs of meat and started cooking it for us, he separated it out into little pieces too. 
The meat was cooked to perfection, my favourite were the ribs by far, it was so sweet and tender, the marinate on those ribs were to die for!!
It was the best piece of meat I have ever tasted. It was not too fatty to the point where it leaves an oily feeling in your mouth. There was just enough fat for it to melt in the mouth when eaten. The other beef cut was also very high quality and I was very impressed.
That was such a filling dinner but we weren't finished yet.....
Later on, we went to the Myeongdong shopping district to have a long around but not to buy anything because we heard more samples are given in Hongdae and Ehwa University cosmetic shops.
We decided to stop off to have dessert at Korean dessert cafe to have pat bing su. Of course, we had to try the red bean bing su, which is the most popular flavour. We also chose the best seller which was sweet potato and cheese flavoured pat bing su. Although it sounded like it wouldn't taste good, admittedly the sweet potato flavour was the best one out of the two desserts.




We spotted Skinfood on the way out and thought we might buy a few masks to use that night.



This box was around £4.50, which is not too expensive for five masks and I wanted to try out some snails masks to find out what the hype was.
A review will be coming up shortly!,  follow me to keep updated!


We also passed a small supermarket and bought a few snacks and drinks.





Be sure to keep updated with Garbo's Asia Adventures,  I've got more exciting experiences to share with you!

Saturday 13 December 2014

Asia Adventures: Day One- London to Hong Kong

London to Hong Kong



Wow, what a long flight!

I did not get any sleep at all through the two journey, instead I watched films non stop!

Anyways to the exciting part, we landed at around two o' clock and caught the bus to our home in New Territories, this took about an hour. If we got the taxi, we would have saved half an hour but getting the bus was way cheaper.. 



The bus tickets cost us around 60 HK dollars each which is roughly £4.80. It isn't bad for an hour journey compared to if we got a taxi with our luggages it would cost around 300 HK dollars which is £24. I guess we would not really save that much money, next time I am just going to call a taxi, much easier. When we arrived at our destination I could not believe the amount of people out there. I was struggling to drag my luggage across the road without bumping into someone.
It was actually a mission to get to the taxi pick up area which happened to be right in the middle of the bus station area. Chances of getting run over by a car were very high.....

Later on in the day, we went to visit our family at the local Sheung Shui yum cha place.



In case we were feeling hungry later on, we decided to buy just a little midnight snack from our local supermarket, Wellcome.




We got a bit carried away with the shopping!

Hope I didn't make you too hungry!!, they'll be more foodie blog posts in the upcoming Asia Adventures!!

See you next time :)

See you next time.

Asia Adventures: OOTD at the Airport


I am going to take you with me on my Asia Adventures and what better to start this off with an OOTD!


Journey:
  • Gatwick Airport to Dubai International Airport (8 hours)
  • Dubai International Airport to Hong Kong International Airport (7 hours)


Comfort is important when it comes to traveling, especially when the flight is fourteen hours!

Grid Shirt- H&M
Grey T-shirt- H&M
Ankle Grazer Jeans- Topshop
Backpack- Herschel
Slippers- Topshop
Scarf- Accessorize

Just noticed that the colours of my scarf does not really match with my outfit. I could only bring one scarf on this trip and maximise storage for my purchase from South Korea, Macau and Hong Kong!
This scarf was so practical, it acted as a pillow, helped me keep warm and was my additional fashion accessory.

My Asia Adventures Day One is coming up very soon for you guys!, make sure you keep updated by following me.



 


Thursday 13 November 2014

TRAVELLING TO SEOUL, HONG KONG AND MACAU!!


===THE ADVENTURES OF GARBO====


This time next week, I will be flying to Hong Kong and spending a week in my family home, heading out to South Korea (Seoul) for five days!! and also spending two days in Macau. I'm mega thrilled to embark on this huge journey of wonders.

I will be blogging everyday so stay tuned for that!
I'm so excited and I've already started packing :)




SEOUL
File:1 hong kong night panorama harbour view 2011.jpg
HONG KONG
MACAU

Review: Benefit Sweet Tintations Christmas Gift Set 2014

Benefit Sweet Tintation Christmas Gift Set


AVAILABLE AT BOOTS, DEBENHAMS, FEELUNIQUE.com, LOOKFANTASTIC.com and BENEFIT.

This is one of the christmas gift box sets that has just been launched by Benefit and this is sold at a price of £19.50.

The Sweet Tintation Gift Set contains:
  • Full size Lollitint lip balm (retail price: £14.50)
  • Full size Benetint lip balm (retail price: £14.50)
  • 4ml Benetint miniture size (original size 12.5ml - retail price: £24.50)
  • 4ml Lollitint miniture size (original size 12.5ml - retail price: £24.50)





I first came across the gift box set from Benefit when I was browsing through the ASOS magazine. I thought getting four lip tints for the price of £19.50 was totally worth it and I've always wanted to try the famous Benetint. I have always been looking for a moisturising tinted lip balm too which is a bonus!
If you order this gift set on the Debenhams, a free gift is given with your order, from me I got the mini they're real mascara. I was really happy with this purchase, I will be reviewing this later in the week.

My thoughts: The gift box had the cutest packaging and I feel in love with it straight away. I expected the Benetint and Lollitint to be slightly bigger but I guess it is reasonable as this comes with two full size tinted lip balms. Both the tints is travel friendly as well as the tinted lip balm.
I am impressed with the packaging with the lip balm, the design and colour of the packaging is very cutesy. I like how the tube is slightly metallic and is the same colour as the lip balm itself.
Now onto the products itself:
  • Benetint lip balm: As described by Benefit, this is a sheer coloured lip balm. This enhances the colour of my lips and make my lips brighter in a subtle way. This looks very natural on the lips and gives a slight sheen too.



  • Lollitint lip balm: I am slightly disappointed about this lip balm because I think the colour itself is the prettiest purple pinky shade but it does not show on my lips. My lips are already quite pigmented. In order the for the lip balm colour so show on my lips, I have to apply concealer onto my lips. In my opinion, I think the Benetint lip balm looks better on my lips than the Lollitint lip balm. 





  • Benetint: My first thoughts were that this tint was very watery. The colour is a very true cherry red colour which suits every skin tone, the watery texture makes the tint easier to apply onto the lips, I found that the lip tint drys out quicker than the Lollitint.
  • Lollitint: The love the colour of this lip tint, it can be used onto the lips and cheek. This tint takes longer to dry out which gives time to spread out the tint on the lips or cheek compared to the Benetint. The tint brightens the appearance of my skin when applied on the cheeks.
Tip: To achieve more colour to the lips, apply the lip tint onto the lip first then apply the tinted lip balm on top of the lip tint.


I update every week and will be shortly going on holiday to Korea and Hong Kong! and will be uploading trip hauls and reviews as well as what I will be up to!
Don't forget the follow me and please comment if you have any questions.

Wednesday 5 November 2014

Review: Dolly Wink liquid eyeliner

Dolly Wink Liquid Eyeliner

By Tsubasa Masuwaka

Tsubasa Masuwaka is a Japanese Model who is the founder of the Dolly Wink brand. I have heard many great things about this brand, in particular the eyeliner. I have not tried anything else from this brand but would love to try their eyelashes in the future.




My thoughts: I have been using this eyeliner for a year and I cannot find an eyeliner that can replace this. The tip is so thin, I used this to line my eye and it is perfect to use for the winged eyeliner style. Honestly, this eyeliner stays on for such a long time. Even after a day out in London or Hong Kong, the eyeliner is still there by the near end of the day. I love this eyeliner, it is so long lasting! It is not like what I have tried before, once applied the eyeliner dries very quickly and does not smudge at all. The only bad thing that I can say is this eyeliner is hard to get hold of in the UK, unless you want to pay double the price.

Cons:
  • Packaging can be dangerous when opened.
  • Hard to get hold of in the UK.
Pros:
  • Reasonable price
  • Very long lasting
  • Does not smudge